


Chickenpox

by EllanaSan



Series: Oria-verse [4]
Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Kicking The Odds - verse, Oria-verse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-09
Updated: 2015-03-09
Packaged: 2018-03-17 02:39:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3512111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EllanaSan/pseuds/EllanaSan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“How’s the baby?” she asked at last. Chickenpox, she had come to learn, wasn’t fun. <br/>“Big and clingy.” Katniss made a face. “You are a saint, Effie.” <br/>“I was thinking about my daughter.” she corrected with a smile. “But I suppose your description of Haymitch is accurate.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chickenpox

A bag of groceries nestled in the crook of each arm, Effie hastened her pace towards the house. It was a warm summer day and she was particularly relived to reach the relative shade of their garden. The geese honked when she passed them by on her way to the backdoor and she promised herself to make sure they still had something to eat. They were resilient birds, as Haymitch often said, and they could probably manage without their owner for a few days but as much as she wasn’t fond of the geese, Effie didn’t want them to get hungry either. Oria would have a fit if one of her precious monstrosity died, she had named each and every one of them with princess worthy names. There even was a Effie in the midst, named in her honor, which had made Haymitch laugh for three days straight.  

The kitchen door was blocked open by a heavy rock to let the cool air breathe in, that saved her from having to figure out a way to get in without dropping her bags. Usually, Haymitch went with her to help her carry the bags when they needed that much groceries but with Oria down with chickenpox… She found Katniss in the kitchen, her dark hair pinned high on her head, pouring iced tea in two tall glasses.

“Did you bring back the whole shop?” Katniss asked, a little incredulous, before hurrying over to relieve her of one of the bags.

“There was no food left in the house.” Effie sighed putting the groceries on the kitchen table. “Was there any problem at all?”

Katniss shook her head and smiled at her, putting the two glasses on a tray. “I was about to bring them something to drink.”

Something to drink would be welcomed indeed so Effie took two other glasses out of a cupboard. She put one in front of Katniss and sipped the sweet tea the girl had prepared with relief. Who knew Twelve could be so hot? The weather was apocalyptic in those parts of the country… Either you froze to death or you slowly cooked in your clothes.

“How’s the baby?” she asked at last. Chickenpox, she had come to learn, wasn’t fun.

“Big and clingy.” Katniss made a face. “You are a saint, Effie.”

Effie had to laugh at that. A six years old with chickenpox was hard but a forty-nine man with chickenpox? It was hell. She had warned him to stay away as soon as the doctor had told them what Oria was sick with, it was highly contagious and Haymitch hadn’t had chickenpox when he was a child. It was a lot more unpleasant for grown-ups than it was for children. She had packed him a bag and sent him away to Katniss and Peeta’s house. Peeta was exiled for the same reason, Katniss was the only one allowed in the house for now. As much as Effie and Katniss had tried to distract Oria, however, the child had been miserable, she had called and cried for her father. She had wanted no one but him. Haymitch’s breaking point had been the moment when he had seen her waving at him sadly through the window. He had come back into the house – despite Effie’s warnings – and had gone straight for Oria. No one was surprised when he had started to show the first signs of chickenpox after two days.

“I was thinking about my daughter.” she corrected with a smile. “But I suppose your description of Haymitch is accurate.”

Haymitch was a terrible, _terrible_ patient. Being bedridden wasn’t good for his temper nor Effie’s. He was frustrated and took it out on her, she wasn’t a nurse and took her own frustration out on him too. She wasn’t unsympathetic – well, in the beginning at least, she hadn’t been unsympathetic – but she couldn’t wait for him to be well again. She was half-convinced she was going to smother him with a pillow if she had to endure his whining much longer. It had been cute at first for someone so manly, who had fought in the Hunger Games and the rebellion, to be defeated by a childhood illness when blood didn’t even make him blink, but cute had lasted approximately two days.

“Less big but not less clingy.” Katniss joked and Effie nodded wisely. “I promised Peeta I would help him with a cake delivery so if you’ve got this…”

“Oh, yes! Yes, absolutely!” Effie waved her away. “Thank you so much for keeping an eye on them, dear, you were a real savior.”

“Anytime.” Katniss smiled and made her escape more quickly than a cake delivery required. Effie understood her hurry soon enough when Haymitch’s grumpy shout of “Girl!” boomed throughout the house, quickly followed by the echo of Oria’s high pitched voice. Effie didn’t know what her daughter was saying but it seemed to be some kind of reminder that they weren’t supposed to shout inside the house because Haymitch’s next call was lower but not less imperious. Effie sighed and envied Katniss her freedom.

She took the time to put the groceries away before taking the tray up. After all, if Haymitch wanted something so badly, he could always come down and get it himself or even send Oria who was almost recovered. He wasn’t feverish anymore, the doctor had grounded him to his bed because he was a stubborn old man who wanted to wander about with a highly contagious illness and would probably exhaust himself inside the house if they let him do as he pleased but, really, a trip down to the kitchen would certainly not kill him.

“Sweetheart, you’re back!” he exclaimed, happily surprised, as soon as he saw her entering their bedroom. Perhaps, Effie thought, she should take more trips out of the house and ask Katniss to babysit him more often. If a mere two hours absence was enough for him to be pleasant again, she would certainly take a few trips to the shop in the next few days.

“Mommy!” Oria echoed, outstretching her little arms to her.

Effie put the tray down on the bedside table carefully, assessing the damage at the same time. Their bed had obviously been invaded by Oria, Haymitch was lost in an ocean of toys, dolls, stuffed animals… She took a look at his hands but the soft clothes she had wrapped around his hands and strapped to his wrists while he was sleeping were still there. Despite his best efforts, he hadn’t managed to free his hands and she had forbidden Oria to help. She was tired of chiding him like a child each time she caught him scratching and his excuse according to which he already had a lot of scars and some new ones wouldn’t change anything was quickly getting old.

She lifted her daughter and hugged her thigh. “Were you good for Auntie Katniss, sweetie?”

“Daddy didn’t say please to Auntie!” Oria reported cheerfully, shaking her head at her father in mocked disappointment. “I told him it was rude.”

“Bad Daddy.” Effie clucked her tongue, whacking Haymitch playfully on the arm.

“You’re a little traitor, baby girl.” Haymitch snorted, before tapping Effie’s skirt slowly so she would sit next to him on the bed. She did, keeping Oria in her lap. “Should I tell Mommy about what you did with her lipstick?”

Effie frowned. “Which lipstick?”

Oria made a guilty face and grabbed her stuffed bear, she pressed it against her chest and immediately pulled out the puppy eyes card. “It wasn’t me, it was Mr Grrr…” she said, showing the toy to her. Mr Grrr had a suspicious dark sticky spot around the mouth. “Bears like honey… Auntie said so and there’s no honey in the kitchen…” She looked at her with her wide blue eyes in completely fake contrition. “Sorry, Mommy…”

“You fed my brand new honey lipstick to your stuffed bear.” Effie resumed quietly. She wasn’t mad exactly, that wasn’t something important enough to be mad about but she was… “I’m really disappointed. You know the rule about make-up.”

“Daddy said I could.” she looked down with wobbly lips. “He said… he said…” She wrinkled her brow in reflection.

“I said you could look, not touch.” Haymitch quickly cut in, showing Effie his clothes wrapped hands. “What did you want me to do?”

“Hun Hun…” Oria shook her head, waving her little finger in front of Haymitch’s face. “You said that would teach Mommy to go out and leave us in…” She looked up at Effie in interrogation. “What agny means?”

“Agony, I think.” Effie corrected. “And that’s what happens to Daddy when he upsets Mommy. Did you authorize her to play with my make-up, Haymitch?”

He cringed. “You heard the girl, bears like honey.”

Probably sensing her mother was angry at her father rather than at her, Oria tapped Effie’s arm pointedly. “Daddy asked me to scratch his face for him but I said no, no, no like you said.”

“That’s very good, Oria, but you knew you weren’t allowed to play with my make-up.” she argued.

“To be fair, I _did_ say she could.” Haymitch sighed. “Come on, Princess. That was a stupid lipstick anyway. It tasted funny, it’s better on the bear.”

She glared at him. It was hard to look at the red spots on his face and took him seriously though. “Even so. She should have known better.”

“But, but…” Oria scrambled for an excuse, playing absent-mindedly with Effie’s bracelet. “But Daddy also asked me to cut the thingy…” she waved at the clothes wrapped around Haymitch’s hands. “…with the scissors and I said no ‘cause I’m not allowed to get the grownups scissors and my toy scissors would have broken.”

“Haymitch, really!” Effie huffed, cradling Oria close in horror.

“I was _joking_.” Haymitch rolled his eyes. “As she knows very well, the little demon.” He tried to tickle her and she giggled and wriggled further away on the bed to escape him. “She’s playing you, Effie.”

Was she? A glance at her grinning daughter was enough to know that _yes_ , she was being played. “Well, that doesn’t change anything. You are both grounded.” she folded her arms on her chest. “No Uncle Peeta’s cupcakes for a week, Oria. And Haymitch… No woods for the same length of time.”

Oria breathed out a long suffering sigh but then she caught sight of the sweet tea Effie had brought up and raced up to her glass with a squeal of delight, her punition already forgotten.

“Grounding me, sweetheart?” Haymitch teased with a smirk. “There’re other ways to punish me if I’ve been that naughty…”

She slapped his arms but smirked back. “Perhaps when you don’t look like you just fell in a giant anthill.”

He sighed – the same kind of sigh their daughter had just given her, she couldn’t help but notice – and pulled her close so she had no choice but to lay on the bed with him. They got exactly two seconds of cuddling before Oria jumped on them, declaring a group hug.

Clingy was an appropriate description for the two of them.


End file.
